Cotton-picker.



COTTON IICKBB. APPLICATION TILED MAR. 14. 1911. RENEWED JULY 31.1912. 1,054,836.

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Inventor,

Witnesses Attorn eys.

H1 3- FOURGHER.

COTTON PICKBB. 11 2110411011 r1121) 111111.14, 1911. nmmwnn mu 1,054,836.

Patented Mar. 4, 191.3.

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. Attorneys.

Witnesses UNITED srrn'rns rnrnNT OFFICE.

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- COTTON-P1101133 Specification of Letters Patent.

" Application filed March 14, 1911, Serial 1 To..614,497. Renewed July 31, 1912. Serial No. 712,570.

ToaZZ'wh m-c't mat concern ";Be'1tl tnown that I", Haney E. Founonnn,

o'f th'e' United States, residing at- ,o Georgia, have iii-tented a new and ico'ltton-Piclreiyof which the followg'iis iL' SPC1i lCa.-i;1011. e v I a 'I"h1sj1n vent1o1'1 relates to cotton pickers, 'bject being to provide device of this 7a rand which includes mechanism for fpickihgthe cotton from the plant and throwing i-t'into a bag or other suitable re.- c'eptacle carried by the operator, the actulaatif'ng rne'chanisni being drivenby an elec I trio motor of such size as to be conveniently "arried. c ,With the foregoing and other objects in :view which will appeanas the description 20proeeds, the invention resides in the coni- 'bination and arrangementof parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings the pre- 25 ferred forms of the invention have been shown. 5 In said drawings; Figure 1 is a side elevation of. the picker, a portion of the" bag being shown in section. Fig. 2 is a central vertical'longitudinal. section through the pickerand a portion of the bag. Fig, 3 is a section on line A-B Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a modified form of picker, a portion ofthebag being vshown in section. Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinal section through said modified form.

Referring to the figures by characters of reference 1 designates a. casing preferably of alu-rninum'or other light material, this casing. includinga hollow arm 2- preferably rectangular in cross'section," as indicated in Fig.- 3" and open'at its ends.- The rear'or base portion of the casing is'also open and preferably rectangular in cross section, there "being resilient bag engaging projections 3 extending from the corner portions,

of the base and adapted to project into the v mouth of an elongated bag 4: so as to hold -'.the'said bag to the casing A shaft 5 extends transversely through and is journaled lwithin the-casing'adjacent the, center thereof, this shaft receiving motion, through a shaft 8, "shown in Fig. 1', as'journaled with "in-brackets Q'secured to one side'of the easing. Said shaft 8 has a coupling member n the county of 7 Richmond andv adapted-to be carried by the opbevel "ear 6 from a ear 7 secured to a 10 at one end thereof and adapted to be engaged by another coupling member-11 secured to one end of a flexible shaft 12. This shaft is adapted to be driven by a suitable motor, not shown, andwhich may be carried by the operator. A sprocket 13' is formed on or secured to the middle portion of shaft 5 and mounted on this shaft at opposite sides of the sprocket, are rolls 14 supporting an endless belt 15. Another shaft 16 is journaled in the inlet'of the arm land extendstransversely of said arm, this shaft earryingrolls17 which are similar to the rolls 1% and are's'paced apart so as ,to receive between them asprocket 18. 'lhe belt is also mounted on these rolls 17 and .secured to the innerface of the belt and along'the longitudinal center thereof, is a chain 19 engaging the sprockets Band 18. Teeth '20 aresecured to the belt and extend from the outer surface'thereof, these teeth.

being arranged in any manner desired they being adapted, when moved out of the intake end-of arm 2, to engage the cotton and tear it from the plants. A gear 21 is secured to the shaft 5 and meshes with an other gear 22 which, in turn, drives a gear 22 secured to a. shaft 23 journaled within and'extendin'g transversely of the base por- .tion of the casing 1, A cylindrical brush 24 is secured to and rotates with the shaft 23 and is adapted to engage the teeth as they pass under the sprocket 13 and the rolls 14. The lower portion of the brush is arranged close to spring arms 25 and a guard or shield plate 26 is secured within the base portion of the casing andiliesclose "to the back portion of the brush, the free end of this shield being rounded, as shown at 27, and there being a considerable space sally connected to a' motor, not shown,

and a source of electricity, not shown. This socket member, 28 is also electrioally connected to controlling buttons 29 mounted upon one-wall of the arm 1, it be ingdesigned-to so construct and arrange these buttons that, when one of them is depressed, a circuit isflestablis'hedi from a source of. electricity toLthe motor and the shaft 12 is therefore driven. ,When the other button 29-is depressedthe circuit is broken, As the'motor, andi the'rmeansforj controlling the same, constitute no part of the present invention, ithas not been deemed necessary to illustrate the same in detail or to enter into an extended description thereof. i

As has heretofore been stated, it is designed to provide a motor which can be readily carried by the operator, the bag t. being also carried by him. The casing 1. is. com paratively small and can be readily held in one or both hands. When the motor is set in. motion, the shaft 12 will drive the shaft 8 and motion will be transmitted therefrom through gears 6 and 7 tothe belt 15 carrying the picking teeth 20. At the same time brush 2l, will be rotated at a greater speed than the shaft When the intake end of the arm 1 is held close to a boil, the teeth will engage the cotton and tear it from the b011,: actual experimentshowing that only the fibrous cotton will be thus engaged and drawn into the casing, the boll and leaves being left upon the plant. As the cotton is conveyed into the casing, it is brought against the rapidly rotating brush 24 and thebristles of this brush engage the cotton and remove it from the teeth 20 and convey it into contact with the spring members 25. The tufts of bristles will thus be held back as they drag over the spring members 25 and as shown in Fig. 2, but as soon as these bristles leave the members 25, they will spring back to their initial positions relative to the brush core, thus flicking the cotton through the opening between the spring members 25 and the guard 26 and into the bag 4.

Instead of employing a picking belt such as has been shown and described, the casing 30 maybe shaped as indicated in Figs. 4 and 5 and provided, in the inlet end thereof, with a roll 31. provided with picking teeth 3 a portion ofthe roll being adapted to project beyond the casing, as shown. The shat" of this roll has a sprocket 34 secured to it at one end, and which drives a chain engaging a sprocket 35. Sprocket 35 is secured to a shaft 36 also journaled within the casing. This shaft carries a brush 37 extending close to the roll 31 and the bristles of which are adapted to engage. the cotton and remove it from the teeth 32 and convey to a spring retaining member 38 having the same action as the member 25 heretofore described. A handle 40 may be mounted upon the casing 30 and said casing also has spring bag engaging members 41 adapted to projectinto a bag 42 and hold the mouth thereof open so as to receive cotton discharged from the casing 30. A gear 44: is secured upon shaft 33 and meshes with another gear secured to a shaft 46. Said shaft is journaled in brackets 47 on the casing and is adapted to be coupled to a flexible shaft 48 extending to a motor, not shown.

Handle 40 may be provided with'controlling buttons 49 and with a switch socket 50 whereby the operation of the motor. may be readily controlled.

In'order to prevent a strong draft of air from blowing out through the inletof the casing and thus interfering with the proper picking of the cotton, an outlet opening '51 is preferably formed in the bottom of the casing adjacent the roll 31, this opening being overhung by an inclined guard plate As an additional means for preventing trash from entering the picker, a guard rod 58 is extended across the inlet opening of the casing 30' close to the circle described by the points of the teeth 82, this rod having tern-iinal arms pivotally connected to the sides of the casing as indicated. at and being attached to springs 56 which serve to hold the rod 53 yieldingly in normal position. Vhen the roll Ell is rotating so as to convey the bolls to the casing 30, the rod 53 will be pressed upward to any necessary extent to permit the cotton to pass there'- under but any trash or other undesirable material will be pushed away from the teeth by the rod. With this modified structure the balance of the operation is practically the same as that described in connection with the forms shown in Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive. .VVhen the cotton is engaged by the teeth 32, it will be carriedinwardly and engaged by the brush 3'7 whereupon it will be removed from the teeth and brought against the spring member 38. This member will cause the bristles of the brush to hold back until after they pass the member whereupon they will 'spring to their normal position and flick the cotton into the baseportion of the casing and toward the bag 42.

\Vhat is claimed is 1. A cotton picker including a casing, a picking element movably mounted within the casing, a yieldable brush-bristle retarding device, and a brush cooperating with the retarding device and said element for removing material from said picking element and against the retarding device and flicking it from said device and out of the casing.

2. A cot-ton picker including a casing, a toothed picking device movably mounted therein, a revoluble brush for removing and conveying cotton from said pickingdevice,

and a retarding plate secured in the casing I vice, said'brush and retarding element co operating to flick the cotton from the messes and casing snliseqoent so its removal from the. picking device.

A cotton picker including a casing having an intake opening-and an outlet opening,

an endless toothed ciclzin device incvebi' mounted Within the casing and projecting beyond the intake opening, means for actuating said device, a brush. fol removing maaerial from said device and means fer successively depressing and releasing the bristies of the brush to flick the material from the brush and through the outletopening, said mean including a yieldable element secured in the casing and adj scent the bruslii 5. A cotton picker including a casing hev ing an intake opening and an outlet, an end: less picking device mcvebiy mcuntcd Within the casing an projecting beyond the intake opening, a v v( l11bie brush for removing me,- teriai from: said device, a sliieid Wit-bin time casinc and lying ciose to the crush, and yielding means cc a'pemiing with the brush and extending close is the shield, for succcssively retarding releasing the bristles of tile brush to flick the material from the lows 6. A coticn picker including as casing adapted to be carried by the operator, an

endless belt movably mounted with the casing, picking teeth extending from the belt, said belt projecting beyond the casing to engage the cotton to be picked, power operated means for actuating the belt, a brush for removing cotton from the teeth and means for retarding and then releasing the bm'stles of the brush to flick the cotton from the casing. 7. A cotton picker including a casing, a picking element movably mounted within the casing, a yieidable brush-bristle retarding device, a brush cooperating with the retarding device and said element for removing. material from said device and flicking it from the casing, said casing having an outlet adjacent the picking element, and a shield extending partially across the outlet. In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

v HARRY E. FOURCHER.

lvitnesses BILLY BARKSDALE, C. H. 01mm. 

